How Australia’s youngest billionaire, Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins, tapped Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson for vital investment

It’s super-rare for a tech start-up to succeed and join the billion-dollar club, so rare that those that do are called unicorns. Graphic design platform Canva joined these ranks two years ago, which meant a huge income increase for its three founders. Filipino-Australian Melanie Perkins, Canva’s CEO and co-founder, has amassed a personal fortune of US$1.3 billion, making her the youngest billionaire in Australia at the age of 32. Here’s all you need to know about the woman behind the world’s most talked-about design platform.

She co-founded a start-up from her mother’s living room

Melanie was a communications undergraduate student at the University of Western Australia before she dropped out to focus on Fusion Books, Canva’s predecessor. The website, which allowed students to customise their yearbooks online, was a small venture founded by Melanie and Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht. The pair took on a loan, worked on the prototype from Melanie’s mother’s living room, and it later became the largest yearbook publisher in the country.

She’s passionate about design

While she never studied it formally, Melanie had been proficient in design. Between 2006 and 2007, she taught students how to use programs like Photoshop and InDesign. She noticed that students found these programs difficult to learn and use, which is where she got the idea for Fusion Books.

She used watersports to get to know investors

In an interview with Guy Raz for NPR, Melanie recounts how she learned how to kitesurf to find common ground with some potential investors in 2012. It was at a Mai Tai gathering of tech executives who liked water sports that she was able to tap investors such as Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.

Cliff Obrecht proposed to her with a US$30 ring last year

Despite the wealth that they’ve gained through their venture, Melanie and long-time boyfriend Cliff lead modest lives. During a trip to Cappadocia, Turkey, in July 2019, Cliff proposed to Melanie with a US$30 engagement ring. On this decision, Cliff says: “We do not really see the need certainly to just accrue wealth. The priority for the company is education, because we really feel educating underprivileged people gives them the chance to break the cycle.”

Canva is among the lucky few to significantly increase its valuation during the Covid-19 pandemic